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LOVING MODIGLIANI
By Linda Lappin
- Posted by IR Staff
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It is nearly impossible to pin down the genre (or, for that matter, the time period, location, and spiritual realm) of Linda Lappin’s LOVING MODIGLIANI and luckily, that’s what makes it so enthralling. It’s startling enough to begin a story with your protagonist speaking seconds after they’ve fallen to their death, but then after following their spirit to the underworld, to jump ahead sixty years into the mind of an entirely new and seemingly unrelated character in a completely realistic setting would give a reader whiplash, if not for Lappin’s masterful handling of the narrative. She manages to link the disparate threads through the lens of a lush world of art and artists, and through a common feminine perspective; this is a story about creativity, but also about creation itself as a woman’s prerogative and birth right. The three female narrators–the artist, the scholar and the curator–present three versions of one female energy, thus we never really know the names of anyone except Jeanne Hebuterne. And she is such a strong and vibrant character, her essence flows through and informs her two sisters of the soul, carrying her story across generations to a very satisfying conclusion. If there is any hesitation to be had about LOVING MODIGLIANI, it’s that the male characters so thoroughly pale in comparison to the female, the love story between Jeanne and Amedeo tells us far more about Hebuterne’s passion than Modigliani’s worthiness; but it’s not too far a reach to wonder if perhaps that was Lappin’s intention.
The worlds that these characters inhabit are every bit as vibrant and captivating as the characters themselves; Paris in the grip of the first World War, Rome in the 1980’s, present-day Venice, and most of all, the incredibly vivid and textured “Other Paris” that Jeanne travels through after death. The detail with which each location is rendered borders on breathtaking, particularly the bleak train station that the dead frequent in their quest to find their loved ones, the courts of the Immortals, and the gorgeous but empty afterlife island of Paul Gauguin. It is a testament to Lappin’s descriptive skills that the leap from these fantastical locales to realistic vicinities doesn’t diminish the pacing or pulse of the story; in fact, the description of the possibly haunted studio of Modi in 1981 is nearly as eerie as the catacombs Jeanne travels through in the underworld. Lappin manages to convey wildly different worlds with equal specificity and affection.
LOVING MODIGLIANI: THE AFTERLIFE OF JEANNE HEBUTERNE is singularly unique and intensely ambitious and an utter joyride for any reader deciding to take the journey.
~Shari Simpson for IndieReader
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Linda Lappin’s LOVING MODIGLIANI is a thrilling dive into the world of art, romance and ambition. This imaginative, poetic novel explores the passionate relationship between famed artist Modigliani and Jeanne Hébuterne, his model and common-law wife. Lappin brilliantly illuminates a strong, complicated woman whose own influence has been largely overlooked. Hébuterne’s mysterious life and early death are the focus of this art history mystery, which itself paints a stunning portrait of Paris, Montparnasse and the thin line between madness and genius with which many great artists struggle.
LOVING MODIGLIANI is a 2021 Discovery Awards winner in the Women’s Fiction category. See Linda Lappin’s acceptance speech here and learn more about this remarkable book.
LOVING MODIGLIANI
Linda Lappin
9781947175303
Rated 4.9 / 5 based on 1 review.